Excerpt from Pastor Rick’s message: “Called and Empowered” (Series: If God Could Use Peter)

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” (Matthew 10:1).

It is important to notice that Christ’s calling to ministry came with the power to do the work (vs. 1). Jesus empowered Simon Peter (and his fellow apostles), through His Spirit, to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons.

Mark 3:14b-15 That he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

This power over demons and diseases did not come from the Apostles themselves. It was given to them by God. And it was given for a unique purpose, spelled out by Mark: “confirming the word with signs following” (Mk. 16:20), as they had no written New Testament as of yet. As they went and preached, God empowered this select group to perform miracles of all kinds (vs. 8). They were merely the vessels in the hand of God to minister to the needy.

This is a principle we must remember in the Lord’s work. The power to serve the Lord and minister to others comes from God. When God calls us to a task or to a ministry, He empowers us to do it. It has nothing to do with how gifted and talented we are, or if we have what it takes. Just like in salvation, it is all about God.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

2Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.